


Dirt and Danger and Death

by escritoireazul



Category: The Chronicles of Riddick Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Mercenary Training, Oral Sex, Shower Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 04:27:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16468730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/escritoireazul/pseuds/escritoireazul
Summary: It's a planet full of dirt and danger and death, like all the best places.





	Dirt and Danger and Death

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shopfront](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shopfront/gifts).



Kyra’s not bad, for a kid.

Problem is, she’s not playing with the other kids, not when she turns up looking for work. Boss Johns’s crew ain’t a place for kids. Dahl ain’t a baby-sitter. But Boss Johns got a soft heart and when Kyra shows up with a sob story about losing her whole family on some monster-filled planet, he dumps her straight into Dahl’s lap.

“Fuck off.” That’s the first thing Dahl says to Kyra.

Kyra slings a small leather satchel, the only thing she carries, onto the bunk beneath Dahl’s. “Right back at you,” she says and flops down. She’s snoring half a second later.

Dahl smiles at the ceiling, since no one can see her anyway. Really not bad for a kid.

 

  
  
Kyra’s a terrible shot. No patience for it. She’s got enough for fighting, choosing her moves all careful like. Got enough for learning better ways to fight, how to compensate when fighting things on three legs, or four, or ten, how to hold her own against three times her own body weight, or four, or ten. Got enough for pushing herself, running farther and faster than anyone but Dahl, and then longer than her, too. She doesn’t get faster, doesn’t get stronger, but she’s a good fighter.

Bout six months in, she beats Dahl. Just once, but it’s like gold to her.

But she’s a terrible shot, and that’s gonna be a problem. Not every fight is hand to hand. Most fights aren’t. They’re not scrapping for show back on a settled planet, or fighting for food and privacy in a slam. They’re hunting, and they’re hunting tough prey.

Kyra needs to learn to shoot and shoot good, or she’s a liability. Soft heart or not, Boss Johns can’t keep her around if she’s that for too long.

Dahl shoves a gun at her, lighter than the ones she normally uses. Forces Kyra down onto her stomach, too close to the target for it to be of any use on an actual job. Kyra grumbles, but puts her face in the dirt and sights down the barrel. Shoots. Misses.

Dahl makes her do it again, and again, and again.

 

  
  
You can’t teach a good eye for long-distance shooting or the steady body or the patient breath. Kyra’s never gonna have that, never be as good as Dahl as a sniper. But she gets good enough. Good enough to not be a liability. Good enough to survive. Good enough to stay on the crew.

Boss Johns gives her the spot, but Dahl loads her up, weapons and gear. Feels some kinda way about it. Proud, maybe, if that’s a thing she can feel. Glad to have Kyra around, at least. She’s not bad, for a kid.

It’s been almost three years. She’s not really a kid anymore.

“You think people take you more seriously in this?” Kyra’s tugging at her vest. “Or they just laugh at how you match where you can’t get your gun on them?”

Dahl snorts. “Doesn’t matter how people take _us_. We don’t care how we look, not when we’re trying to stay alive.”

Kyra smiles, small and quick, but Dahl sees it anyway.

  
  


Kyra takes a bullet on their first job and stops the thing that got the jump on Boss Johns. She slumps on a bench once her armor’s peeled away, wearing just her pants and an undershirt wrapped tight around her chest.

Any one of them could doctor her up, but Dahl takes it. Sterilizes a surgical knife. Cleans the wound with medical goo and sterile cloth.

“Fuck, that stings.” Kyra grits her teeth. “Why can’t they make something that doesn’t hurt when it fixes you?”

“Lets you know you’re alive.” Dahl grins down at her, teeth bared.

“Pretty sure the bullet in my shoulder’s doing that just fine.” But Kyra grins, too, just as sharp and teeth filled.

“Want me to hold your hand?” Dahl asks, sweetness and light. Kyra punches her, hard. Fast. “You’re getting better off the left side.”

“Fucking better be, much as I practice.”

Dahl cuts into her while she talks, and Kyra snaps off, setting her jaw. There’s a little bit of numbing agent to the goo, but not much. Dahl could give her more, but they might not have it next time. No sense in easing her into the pain. She’ll learn, and she’ll stay, or she’ll leave.

Dahl hopes not that one.

The bullet’s deep, against the bone. Dahl has to dig hard to get it out. Knife scrapes. Kyra swallows a shout. Dahl works fast, but there’s a lot of blood and a lot more pain before she’s done.

Kira does good, for a kid.

Dahl puts more goo on the wound, this to keep it clean, force out any infection, and binds the wound with bandages, tight but with enough give to let her move if she has to fight before she's healed.

“Not bad,” Dahl tells her when they’re done.

“Thanks.” It comes out breathless. Not bad at all for her first time.

  
  
  
Kyra’s been working with them about six months the first time they hear a rumor about Riddick. Boss Johns has been hunting him for six years at that point, and they’ve never got close.

Kyra squints at the screen. “Why’s he looking for Riddick?” It’s a simple enough question, and Dahl expected her to ask, but there’s something off about her voice.

Dahl doesn’t tell her, not at first. Just shrugs and says it’s a job, like all jobs.

But that’s a lie, and they both know it.

Dahl sits with her one night, drinking the slop the planet calls liquor. It’s bad, but she’s had worse.

“Johns’ son died,” Dahl says, blunt. “He thinks Riddick knows how. Probably, Riddick did it himself.”

Kyra looks down. Drinks a lot before she says anything. “When?” she asks. Her voice shakes.

Dahl tells her. Kyra listens. Doesn’t speak much. They both drink. Kyra too much. Dahl has to drag her back to her bunk. She’d leave her, normally, like she’d leave all her teammates who were dumb enough to get themselves drunk off ship, but Kyra’s not bad.

For a kid.

  
  
  


They stop on a civilized planet after dropping off three bounties at Butcher Bay, one hell of a slam. Big enough, nice enough, and they’ve got money enough they can get rooms, have a good meal, celebrate their latest win.

Kyra and Dahl stumble back to their room together. Neither of them want to spend that much money for privacy. They’ve spent enough time together there’s nothing left to hide, not of what can be seen. They’ve got secrets. That don’t matter.

Kyra follows Dahl straight into the shower. Kisses her hard. She tastes like too sweet liquor and charred meat. They get under the water while they’re kissing, mouths hot, bodies getting slick together, water on their shoulders, need in their cunts. Kyra scrubs Dahl clean, then herself. Gets on her knees, licks into Dahl, tongue fast on her clit, fingers rough inside.

Dahl slams her shoulders against the wall, fists her hand in Kyra’s hair, fucks against her face, smearing her, marking her. Dahl comes there, twice, before she lets Kyra up, before Kyra lets her go. They make it to the bed after that, fuck until noon, or later maybe. Sleep. Gulp water from canteens. Fuck some more.

Kyra’s not bad, for a kid.

Dahl shakes her head, drives that off. She’s not been a kid for a good long while.

  
  
  
  


They’re half a galaxy away when the call comes in. Distress beacon. Uninhabited planet.

Riddick.

Boss Johns gets them moving faster than ever. Pushes the ship. They stop just to grab more gear, heavy things. Dahl adds triple ammo for her best gun, then doubles that. Doubles it again. Adds even more tranqs. She’s never seen Boss Johns want something so much.

Kyra doesn’t say anything. Cleans her guns. Double and triple checks her gear. Big shadows under her eyes. She looks younger, younger than she was back when she showed up, a kid looking for work.

Looking for family.

Dahl puts a hand on her shoulder. Watches as the planet rises up before them, dirt and danger and death. Like all the best places.

  
  


There’s a moment, at the end of it all, after Dahl’s climbed off Riddick, both of them soaked to the skin, that she thinks they’ve lost Kyra to him. Boss Johns stares at Kyra, now that he knows. Knows what his son did, and tried to do. It doesn’t even matter that she kept that secret all these years. Boss Johns has got a soft heart, and Kyra’s always been a good kid.

Riddick is a mess, blood and mud everywhere. Kyra throws herself at him, buries her face against his chest. He touches her with gentle hands, cups them over her shoulder blades. Doesn’t say anything. Neither does Kyra.

None of them do, not for awhile. Riddick takes a ship. Stops at the top of the ramp, back to them. Doesn’t turn. Just waits.

Kyra stares at him, wide-eyed, naked longing on her face. That’s when Dahl thinks they’re going to lose her, lose her to Riddick and his ship and the other side of their work. That’s two times she’s survived with him, two times she’s faced monsters in the dark and come through.

Then Kyra falls back into line. Riddick stands a minute longer. There’s maybe a slump to his shoulders. Dahl can’t believe it, but maybe.

“We’ll see him again,” Kyra says. Stares after him when he disappears into the ship, closes it up behind him.

Dahl knocks her elbow into Kyra’s arm. Doesn’t say anything else.

  
  
  


Kyra climbs into her bunk that night. Fucks her hard and fast and silent. Dahl’s chased off ghosts like that before, doesn’t even mind being used. Last time, it wasn’t that, and the time before, and the time before. Next time, it won’t be that either.

Kyra’s not bad. Not good either. She, like them all, just is.


End file.
